history
the Haynes
legacy
lives on
Old Faithful Photo Shop helps
park visitors give back
By Maria Wyllie
On January 5, 1887, 13 men embarked from Mammoth on an
expedition through Yellowstone National Park. Five days in,
their leader, Arctic explorer Frederick Schwatka, fell ill traveling along the Gibbon River from Norris to the Firehole Hotel
and could go no further.
While most of the group waited to see if Schwatka would recover, the expedition’s photographer, Frank J. Haynes, pressed
on with a guide and two hearty outdoorsmen hired to handle
equipment.
The men used Canadian web snowshoes and 10-foot long,
four-inch wide Norwegian skis in the deep snow, towing
toboggans laden with heavy photographic
equipment and chemicals to develop photos in the field.
Frank J. Haynes during the 1887 expedition through Yellowstone
National Park NPS PHOTO
them for 72 hours. With little food and no extra clothing, they
almost died.
Finding a stand of small fir trees, they used their skis to dig a
snow pit for shelter and built a fire. When the skies cleared
two days later, they skied roughly 12 miles to Yancey’s Pleasant Valley Hotel just north of the TowerRoosevelt junction.
After resting there for a day, they made the
trek back to Mammoth on January 27, returning with 42 photographs documenting their
29-day, 200-mile journey.
Knowing his images would constitute
the first complete mid-winter portfolio of
Yellowstone, Haynes was determined to
photograph the Upper and Lower Geyser
Basins and Yellowstone Falls.
This collection of images from the harrowing
winter journey of 1887 is only part of the
Haynes legacy.
After reaching Canyon Hotel on January
20, where Haynes captured photos of the
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and the
Lower Falls on fragile, photographic plates,
he was hungry for more. Haynes decided
to lead his party northeast along the edge
of the Grand Canyon so he could photograph new winter sites.
They left Canyon on January 23 and began
climbing 10,243-foot Mount Washburn.
After only a few hours, a blinding snowstorm obscured all landmarks, trapping
Old Faithful Geyser, 1913. The Haynes
family published more than 55 million
YNP postcards from 1900 to 1966.
These postcards were hand-colored
and helped shape the perception of
YNP around the world. NPS Photo
Haynes first visited Yellowstone in 1881
while working as a photographer for the
Northern Pacific Railroad. Falling in love
with the park, he returned every summer
thereafter to photograph its wonders. In
1884, he secured the first commercial concessions in the park, and for the next 84 years,
his family operated 13 photo shops in the
park under the name Haynes, Inc. In 1900,
they began selling “penny postals,” cards
depicting iconic Yellowstone scenes that cost
only a penny.
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Mountain
101
history
visitors starting this summer. Originally built by Jack in 1927,
the restored structure, known as the Old Faithful Haynes
Photo Gallery, is now LEED-certified. Its mission is twofold:
honoring the Haynes family and helping fundraise for the
park.
A modern, interactive exhibit offers an interpretive history,
telling the Haynes’ story and the role photography played in
establishing the park and promoting tourism there.
Another informs visitors about YPF, the park’s official fundraising partner since 1995. Although the foundation has raised
more than $70 million for the park it has never had a facility there. In this exhibit, whimsical 19th century aesthetics
juxtapose 21st century technology to explain YPF’s strategic
initiatives heard through vintage phone receivers and seen on
modern video screens.
Yellowstone National Park Deputy Superintendent Steve
Iobst, who oversaw the restoration, says the shop’s proximity
to the Old Faithful Inn should help YPF reach a captive audience.
The National Park Service preserved the historic Old Faithful Photo Shop and
in 2011 moved it from its original location at the Old Faithful Auto Camp to a
spot near the Old Faithful Visitor Education Center. YPF paid to restore the
interior through a $4 million fundraising campaign. Photos courtesy of YPF
A new book, The Haynes Family in Yellowstone National Park:
1881-1968 by Susan and Jack Davis, explains that the postcards
had a broad impact, introducing Yellowstone’s natural wonders
and beauty to America – and the rest of the world – during a
time when few had visited the park.
It was Frank Haynes’ son Jack who was responsible for the
postcards’ popularity. He developed the idea of the “Haynes
100 Series,” a collection of postcards arranged by number that
followed the “grand loop tour” around the park.
After assuming ownership of Haynes, Inc. in 1916, Jack
managed the business until his death in 1962. He earned the
nickname “Mr. Yellowstone” for his longtime commitment to
the park – from business to conservation and education.
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By mixing technology with a vintage look and feel, the space
invites tourists to step back in time and imagine Yellowstone
in the early 1900s. The welcome desk is a Haynes original,
and reproductions of Frank Haynes’ photography equipment
are displayed alongside antique souvenirs, such as the Haynes
Guides, which were the first Yellowstone guidebooks to use
photographs.
A digital darkroom allows guests to upload their Yellowstone
photos in real time, email them or temporarily become part of
the exhibit by displaying their photos on the electronic entry
wall.
Whether visitors have their picture taken in the Haynes photo
op, which uses a vintage postcard image for the background, or
watch Old Faithful erupt through vintage cameras, they will
play a role in both preserving and continuing the park’s photographic history – one that was nearly buried on the steeps of
Mt. Washburn 126 years ago.
Find more about the Old Faithful Haynes Photo Gallery at ypf.org.
“He took a strong interest in preserving its natural wonders
and quality of its character,” wrote the Davises.
More information on the Haynes family:
“At the Greatest Personal Peril to the Photographer,” by William Lang, Montana: The Magazine of
Western History, 1983 winter edition.
The National Park Service, through a partnership with the
Yellowstone Park Foundation, has restored one of the Haynes’
operations, the Old Faithful Photo Shop, and is opening it to
The Haynes Family in Yellowstone National Park:
1881-1968, by Susan and Jack Davis, 2013.
Mountain
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